New MacBook Airs may suffer from Wi-Fi connectivity issues

Connections are tenuous on some MacBook Airs.

The latest MacBook Airs may be having some issues with their Wi-Fi connections, per Gizmodo’s reading of the Apple discussion forums. Many people who picked up one of the updated MacBook Airs within the last few days claim that the computers will drop their connection after a minute or two and are unable to reconnect until the computer is restarted.

At this month's WWDC, Apple announced the refreshed MacBook Airs, which now sport Haswell processors and 802.11ac-capable Wi-Fi adapters. Gizmodo speculates that the antenna for this adapter is buried inside the plastic strip in the MacBook Air’s hinge, where it apparently might not be getting enough breathing room.

At least one user attests that his connection drops every 15 to 30 minutes, but it can be fixed by turning the Wi-Fi off and on again. Another says his drops when he tries to download particularly big files. A number of the commenters in the thread are struggling with the on/off Wi-Fi toggle. Gizmodo suggests that the problem is worse when the computer is sitting on a desk.

Our new MacBook Air is in the hands of Senior Product Specialist Andrew Cunningham, and he has yet to experience this issue. But if you are a new MacBook Air owner suffering from unstable Wi-Fi, apparently you are not alone.

68 Reader Comments

It's almost like people hope it's something like the antenna placement, so they can point to Apple's industrial design and say "ha ha, got just a little too clever, there, didn't you!"

I guess it still could be related to the antenna placement, but it just sounds like something much more banal -- maybe on one of the production lines the antenna installer isn't pushing the connector in all the way or there's a bad batch of WiFi chips or something like that.

I definitely have this problem. Internet seemed to cut out the moment you stopped using it, almost as if there was some sort of over-zealous power saving going on. I just assumed it had to do with my 8 year old WRT54G. I went out and got the the new 802.11 AC time capsule and this problem went away.

It's almost like people hope it's something like the antenna placement, so they can point to Apple's industrial design and say "ha ha, got just a little too clever, there, didn't you!"

I guess it still could be related to the antenna placement, but it just sounds like something much more banal -- maybe on one of the production lines the antenna installer isn't pushing the connector in all the way or there's a bad batch of WiFi chips or something like that.

It also could be a bug in the software drivers. The 802.11 spec is pretty well defined, however, there are quite a few areas where the standard doesn't provide definition, so specific 802.11 messages may be tripping up the software with certain Access Points. (...or it could potentially be happening on a specific revision of 802.11 (a/b/g/n/ac) or a specific authentication type (WPA2-PSK, WPA2-TLS, WPA2-PEAP, etc)

I have had wifi problems with every laptop, phone, tablet and desktop I have ever had. I find that just some base stations work better with some devices than others. No real rhyme or reason to it. Currently my router does not like mac books, but resetting it makes it work fine for a couple days. Really the issue is that wifi subjective to interference and manufacture implementation differences. I can't think of a good solution however.

Nothing irritates me more than these tech solutions of "restart the computer" or worst of all "just restore your [gadget name] and reload everything onto it. I have a 23 year old television that I turn on and watch and never have to fool with. Imagine that!

I definitely have this problem. Internet seemed to cut out the moment you stopped using it, almost as if there was some sort of over-zealous power saving going on. I just assumed it had to do with my 8 year old WRT54G. I went out and got the the new 802.11 AC time capsule and this problem went away.

I definitely have this problem. Internet seemed to cut out the moment you stopped using it, almost as if there was some sort of over-zealous power saving going on. I just assumed it had to do with my 8 year old WRT54G. I went out and got the the new 802.11 AC time capsule and this problem went away.

So it's not enough that you bought a twelve hundred dollar computer, you need to spend another three hundred. Disgusting.

No problems on my 11", but I've only tested out 5Ghz N so far. Now I'm going to try out the 2.4 signals to see if I have issues or not. At least you can count on Apple to fix things up one way or another.

It's almost like people hope it's something like the antenna placement, so they can point to Apple's industrial design and say "ha ha, got just a little too clever, there, didn't you!"

I guess it still could be related to the antenna placement, but it just sounds like something much more banal -- maybe on one of the production lines the antenna installer isn't pushing the connector in all the way or there's a bad batch of WiFi chips or something like that.

It also could be a bug in the software drivers. The 802.11 spec is pretty well defined, however, there are quite a few areas where the standard doesn't provide definition, so specific 802.11 messages may be tripping up the software with certain Access Points. (...or it could potentially be happening on a specific revision of 802.11 (a/b/g/n/ac) or a specific authentication type (WPA2-PSK, WPA2-TLS, WPA2-PEAP, etc)

Oh, of course. But still falls in the 'banal' category, rather than the 'ha ha, you got too clever' category.

Nothing irritates me more than these tech solutions of "restart the computer" or worst of all "just restore your [gadget name] and reload everything onto it. I have a 23 year old television that I turn on and watch and never have to fool with. Imagine that!

I don't know where you are, but in the U.S. that would be impossible. They turned off the analog signals, so you'd need some kind of converter in there somewhere. The fact that it's external doesn't really change that fact that your 23 year old TV would have had to have been fooled with.

Kind of unrelated; I bought my girlfriend an iPad mini about a month ago that seems to have a very similar problem. Drops the internet frequently, especially when downloading larger files like apps. Swapped out the original within a week, same problem. Installing a new router today to see if that helps.

I'm not the biggest fan of Apple, bad press and experiences on little things like this really hurts their image in my mind.

I only have an 802.11n router (with shibby tomato firmware) and it seems to work fine for me... granted that's only on 5Ghz. 2.4Ghz is almost saturated in my apartment, depending on conditions it can become nearly unusable. I've been nothing but pleased with my '13 MBAir.

I definitely have this problem. Internet seemed to cut out the moment you stopped using it, almost as if there was some sort of over-zealous power saving going on. I just assumed it had to do with my 8 year old WRT54G. I went out and got the the new 802.11 AC time capsule and this problem went away.

So it's not enough that you bought a twelve hundred dollar computer, you need to spend another three hundred. Disgusting.

If he has the money to spend on it and his kids are not starving why do you care. It isnt your money.

I haven't had any connectivity problems with 2.4GHz 802.11n on the 13" Air. Given that I'm not alone, it seems like either: an isolated manufacturing defect or a problem that only occurs in specific conditions (such as a specific orientation and position of laptop w.r.t. router)

So it's not enough that you bought a twelve hundred dollar computer, you need to spend another three hundred. Disgusting.

I remember when you had incompatabilities between USB devices, I wouldn't get too worked up over pre-standard devices failing to get along. After all, wasn't there a story just a few days ago that two Samsung phones were the only certified 802.11ac devices so far.

I have an AirPort Extreme 4th gen myself. I fully intended to have it long enough to verify that comcast's ipv6 was working and then make it an access point as I get a nicer router. But, I have to confess, it's actually been the nicest one I've ever had. Sure the static DHCP entries aren't enough and I wish there wa a web interface, but beyond those minor points its been great. Perhaps there's another reason he decided to upgrade?

Nothing irritates me more than these tech solutions of "restart the computer" or worst of all "just restore your [gadget name] and reload everything onto it. I have a 23 year old television that I turn on and watch and never have to fool with. Imagine that!

I know, right? I mean I have a 1000+ year old rock that I never have to fool with. No matter what I do, it keeps working, even if I take it underwater or drop it on the ground. I wish more companies would make technology like this.

So it's not enough that you bought a twelve hundred dollar computer, you need to spend another three hundred. Disgusting.

I remember when you had incompatabilities between USB devices, I wouldn't get too worked up over pre-standard devices failing to get along. After all, wasn't there a story just a few days ago that two Samsung phones were the only certified 802.11ac devices so far.

I have an AirPort Extreme 4th gen myself. I fully intended to have it long enough to verify that comcast's ipv6 was working and then make it an access point as I get a nicer router. But, I have to confess, it's actually been the nicest one I've ever had. Sure the static DHCP entries aren't enough and I wish there wa a web interface, but beyond those minor points its been great. Perhaps there's another reason he decided to upgrade?

Yeah there was a reason to upgrade besides the wifi problem. I bought the laptop intending to eventually get an AC router. Having Wifi problems accelerated that process, plus considering most AC routers are around $200 spending the extra $100 for 2 TB of backup space seemed worth it.

I own an iPad Mini myself and have had a *few* glitches with staying connected on wireless. But honestly, I can't say it was so much that I'd consider it a product flaw or defect.

One thing I've run into with Apple products of all types (since I work in I.T. for a company that uses over 50% Macs and issued iPads to everyone) .... When a device goes into sleep mode, sometimes it doesn't seem to play nicely with DHCP servers (the servers or routers that hand out IP addresses to devices as they connect up). Most DHCP IP addresses are issued as "leases" for limited amounts of time, such as 24 hours, before they "expire". It seems like Mac and iOS devices sometimes hang onto an expired IP address, which is already handed out to a different device, causing an IP address conflict message to be generated. (We suspect it's sleep mode that's the root cause of this.)

(I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't happen when you use OS X Server as your DHCP server ... but I never tried that. Our corporation uses Windows Server 2008 or 2003, depending on site location.)

On my wireless at home, I found the biggest issue I've had was a signal the device indicated was fairly strong, yet actually wasn't reliably transmitting data. In my 1200 sq. foot townhouse (3 stories but fairly small), I had to place wireless access points on each floor to put an end to wi-fi flakiness. Clearly, just one router wasn't REALLY providing the kind of coverage stated on the packaging.

Kind of unrelated; I bought my girlfriend an iPad mini about a month ago that seems to have a very similar problem. Drops the internet frequently, especially when downloading larger files like apps. Swapped out the original within a week, same problem. Installing a new router today to see if that helps.

I'm not the biggest fan of Apple, bad press and experiences on little things like this really hurts their image in my mind.

Apple has always had plenty of WiFi issues. But so do many PC's. I found a connection between Bluetooth and WiFi. Both of which use the 2.4 ghz bandwidth. Not sure if its interference issues or simply a hardware issue. Never did think Apple used really good WiFi cards. Also I believe the new cards are AC compliant for the new WiFi standard. Possible, that could have something to do with it?

I've had Macs and Macbooks since 2006. That includes 4 OSX versions, 5 different machines.

When I read your headline, I correct it to:

"New Macbook Air will be exactly like every other Macbook"

I've been eatin' the good ol' self-assigned IP sandwich these many years. It's gotten less meaty in more recent updates, but it's still there. About once a week, I'll be somewhere and get jammed off the wifi with Captn. Exclamation Point in his happy place.

Some of it seems to be router-based (i.e. if you buy an Airport, you will never have connection problems again. But my the Mutton Gods have mercy on your soul if you buy DLink). Some of it seems to be IT policies at certain Universities I've been miserable enough to be associated with (One actually had a policy of not 'supporting Macs' even though like half the faculty used them). But some of it is definitely Apple being a thug and ignoring/blaming customers.

Curse you Apple! Why must you make such beautiful products that do not work right!? The Jaguar of laptops.

I definitely have this problem. Internet seemed to cut out the moment you stopped using it, almost as if there was some sort of over-zealous power saving going on. I just assumed it had to do with my 8 year old WRT54G. I went out and got the the new 802.11 AC time capsule and this problem went away.

I think power issues are somehow related to a lot of problems I've had with my 2012 Macbook. The graphics cards do weird stuff, too. Games were locking up until I turned the power-save features off (which try to auto-switch you to the cheapie card from the fancy one to save power). Wi-fi cycled off, too, like you're saying.

"may suffer from Wi-Fi connectivity issues"?! Guys, you're supposed to be journalists. Take the time to research the story and back it up with facts before posting it. Articles like this are bringing down your entire profession.